Literacy Development in the Multilingual Child: From Speaking to Writing

doi:10.1017/9781108669771.021

16 - Literacy Development in the Multilingual Child: From Speaking to Writing

from Part Four - Language(s) and Literacy of Multilingual Children through Schooling

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 August 2022

Iliana Reyes

Edited by

Anat Stavans and

Ulrike Jessner

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Anat Stavans: Affiliation:
Beit Berl College, Israel
Ulrike Jessner: Affiliation:
Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck, Austria

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Summary

The chapter begins with a review of foundational studies on how monolingual children develop emergent literacy, then moves to explore how children develop multiliteracy by learning to interpret symbols and icons in their immediate contexts. The research shows that children find ways to experience and construct meaning from their local scripts in each of their multiple languages. Studies presented in this chapter show that children can interpret symbols in several different scripts, and that they find strategies to navigate multiple languages and become competent speakers in their communities.

Keywords

Emergent Literacy Linguistic Assets Multiliteracy Metalinguistic Awareness Translanguaging

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Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Handbook of Childhood Multilingualism , pp. 376 - 392

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108669771.021 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2022

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